Straight-Up Sheetfeds

While perfector presses fulfill the need for fast front-and-back printing in a single pass, many commercial printers are still turning to the familiar 40" straight, nonperfecting sheetfed press for its reliability, high image quality, and ability to print on a wide variety of substrates.

"Granted, sheetfed perfectors are both versatile and profitable," says John Dowey, vice president of product management–sheetfed for Heidelberg USA. "To print both sides of the sheet, there's just one makeready, one press OK, and one run, plus operators can run clean paper and avoid turning piles and fighting powder problems."

But, Dowey continues, "Straight presses are right for printers whose work does not necessarily fit perfecting or who have requirements for substrates that don't perfect well. Along with shops producing commercial work, good candidates include carton printers, specialty printers, and label printers."

Adds Douglas Parker, KBA's product manager for sheetfed presses, "I find that very few printers ask for perfector models. Instead of buying a four-over-four or a five-over-five, many printers run the job twice through the press."

Parker goes on, "A lot of printers complain that they didn't know that shops typically run a perfector slower than a straight press, even when printing single-side work. Our advice to printers: if more than 60% of their work requires perfecting, buy a perfector. If it's anything less, it makes sense to buy a straight press."

At the Graph Expo and Converting Expo show in October, Komori America introduced its Lithrone S40 press; it has since booked orders for nearly 20 of the machines in the U.S. "The LS40 has a 30% faster makeready than the Lithrone model," reports Doug Schardt, product manager for Komori. "It has a running speed of 16,000 sheets per hour and can print on a wider range of stocks. But what has been driving sales is its affordable price, production enhancements, and superior print quality."

One of the first installations of the LS40 was to a Phoenix printer named Cereus Graphics. The shop, named for a special Southwest cactus that blooms only at night, was already operating a battery of Komori presses, including a 40" four-color with aqueous coating, a 40" two-color, and a 28" six-color with aqueous coating.

After completing a marketing survey among customers, Cereus Graphics decided that it needed to install a six-color 40" press to offer additional service and to replace an older five-color with new technology.

"We started to evaluate technology," says Tom Ginter, president of Cereus Graphics, "and found that Komori was going to introduce a new design. We took a look at the LS40 in the demo room and liked its ease of operation. We also were impressed that all six plates could be changed in less than three minutes, compared to the 15 to 20 minutes that we were used to. Also, we liked that the press linked to our prepress department."

But the need for quality printing proved to be a particularly important factor, both in the customer survey and the equipment decision. Before Ginter left for Chicago to see the new press, his firm was having problems with a particular job that took more than 10 hours of makeready and still could not eliminate ghosting on press.

"After we finally got a customer OK, I took the form with us to Chicago," recalls Ginter. "Within 15 minutes, the makeready was complete and the LS40 printed that job 2,000% better than we did."

Cereus Graphics has since found the press to be very efficient, both on current work and jobs in new markets. Ginter explains, "We primarily serve the Phoenix market but our goal is to become a regional printer. We produce posters, limited art reproductions, and annual reports, and we're winning new jobs because of this press."

The Pond-Ekberg Company, a commercial printer and finisher located in Chicopee, Mass., added to its multicolor perfecting capability by adding a new 41" six-color straight KBA Rapida 105 with in-line aqueous coating. The nonperfecting press, installed last January, is equipped with semi-automatic plate changers, CIP3/4 digital interface, automatic blanket and roller washers, and KBA's closed-loop spectrophotometry system.

"We bought the Rapida 105 for several reasons," explains Jonathan Kratovil, president of Pond-Ekberg. "We're very pleased with the print quality and performance of our seven-color Rapida perfector, plus we needed another press to fulfill anticipated growth."

Kratovil says that the Rapida 105's 41½"-wide sheet size has become an enormous selling point for Pond-Ekberg's sales and marketing staff. He says, "We've staked out the 24x41" print market and use our KBA presses to print edge-to-edge on many types of stocks. The Rapida 105 gives us markless sheet transfer with full-sheet ink coverage, without streaking or marking issues."

Pond-Ekberg had bought a two-over-five Rapida 104 perfector six years ago primarily for its greeting card market and fine stationery wrap printing and finishing.

"We've always been able to offer customers something a little different than what our competitors can," says Kratovil. "With the new press, we can print on new and various substrates—which we'll certainly promote to prospects."

He says the company already promotes a unique distinction: it has one of the largest and most diversified finishing operations in New England. Pond-Ekberg can foil stamp, emboss, diecut, and thermo-cut on various stock sizes and substrates, up to a 49" press sheet.

Kratovil, who says the company was founded in 1918 as a small letterpress and typesetting shop, notes that the firm is still privately owned. He adds that the company is considering adding a third Rapida sheetfed, a six- or an eight-color with UV curing.

Primary Color, a prepress shop-turned-printer with locations in Irvine and Culver City, Calif., installed a Heidelberg Speedmaster 102 eight-color with coater last May to join a six-year-old Speedmaster 102 six-color and a five-year-old 28" Speedmaster 74 five-color.

"We serve ad agencies and large corporations in the Los Angeles and Orange County markets, so we put in the eight-color both to add capacity and expand our print base," says Dan Hirt, president. "As designers come up with jobs requiring more and more colors, printers wanting to stay competitive install eight- and 10-color presses, so we were limited with a six-color. The new press gives us an increased quality advantage and improves color consistency throughout the run."

The eight-color is equipped with automated plate mounting and automated inking not found on the six-color press. The new press is equipped with a Heidelberg ImageControl system that scans the sheet into 160,000 pixels or one-tenth-inch squares, then calculates deviation from the digital OK or customer's sign-off sheet. By automatically reading color on every 500th sheet and making adjustments, the system allows the press to stay within approved tolerance.

In Blauvelt, N.Y., a short distance from New York City, Mid-Atlantic Graphic Communications (MAG, as it's commonly known), relies on its six-color, coater-equipped Roland 700 to provide high-end clients with lush promotional pieces characterized by heavy ink coverage and a variety of paper weights.

"Reproduction on the 700 is markless," says vice president Douglas Arbolino. "We can run everything from thin stock to 40-point board without any hassles, which is important when we're printing 'wall-to-wall' solids just about every day. That's one thing we don't want to worry about."

MAG, which has just under 20 employees and bills nearly $10 million a year, serves a clientele consisting almost exclusively of large, multinational firms located in the corporate enclaves of its home area of Rockland County, plus nearby Montvale, N.J. and Connecticut.

"Our clients sell high-ticket items so they're very demanding," Arbolino adds. "We regularly print 250- and 300-line screens—even up to 400 lines, and they can tell the front-to-back difference if a sheet has been perfected. Even though our typical run length is 5,000 copies [some runs surpass 100,000 or 200,000], they all have to be top quality."

Arbolino says that MAG regards its clients as so exclusive that it does not serve them via a formal sales force. "Instead, our three company officers have direct, personal involvement in all the projects," he explains. "They go out and bring in the jobs, but they also work in the plant every day. I often run over to a client's location for an hour to discuss a job, then come back here to pick up the run on press."

Enhancing the executives' efforts are word-of-mouth recommendations and new work that comes in when buyers move to positions in other companies.

Arbolino concedes that there's a place for perfecting. "We operate a six-color 23x29" Roland 300 perfector right alongside the 700, printing collateral material and book work on a very competitive basis," he says. "But we always put the big sheets on the 700."

Mid-Atlantic is notable for yet another reason. MAN Roland holds up the plant as an example of computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM) as MAG networks its workflow, from its Agfa Galileo VS platesetter to the two Roland presses via Pecom PressLink software, JobPilot set-up module, and PressMonitor tracking system.

"These programs really streamline our production workflow, speeding makeready and boosting uptime," says Arbolino. "They let press operators concentrate fully on the work at hand without worrying about setting up the next job. That keeps production going and puts the focus on quality."

When Franklin/Trade Graphics forged a merger in July 2002, the Miami commercial shop decided to update its press lines. One of its first new presses was a 40" Mitsubishi Diamond 3000, equipped with six colors plus coater.

"We considered a perfector press," says Peter Dunne, Franklin/Trade Graphics president, "but a straight press is a better fit for the type of work we produce, which consists of a lot of single-side work."

Dunne concedes that the shop does have needs for perfector work in some of its market niches. "For example," he says, "we print game programs and media kits for South Florida sports teams, which require two-sided printing. But quality and coating issues played into our decision to go with a straight press."

The company, which employs 140 people, ordered the Diamond 3000 press with every feature and option available. Since its installation in December 2002, the press has proven to allow much faster makeready than the older presses.

"We're using CIP3 data to communicate from prepress to press," says Dunne. "This saves time and material in makeready, shortens job throughput, and reduces press sheet start-ups."